Thucydides - Between Myth and History - Shanghai Sanlian Humanities Classics Library 8

Author: (British) Francis MacDonald Cornford
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: The myths and history discussed in this book seem to be the product of two almost incompatible plans. Thucydides originally planned to write a textbook on military science and political science in the form of a diary. In fact, people usually don’t regard it as anything else. However, as the work progressed, this tedious plan was gradually abandoned, and a different outline emerged. Then, this outline was disrupted by the interference of old patterned routines, making it incoherent; like a series of volcanic islands rising from the sea, they can only be seen by birds from certain angles or distances, but not by cruising sailors, as they appear no different from submerged mountains. Thucydides (c. 471 BC – c. 400 BC), an ancient Greek historian. Born into a wealthy and noble family in Athens. In 424 BC, he was elected as a general. That same winter, the Spartan general Brasidas attacked the Athenian stronghold of Amphipolis on the northern coast of the Aegean Sea, and Thucydides led the Thracian fleet to relieve the besieged city ineffectively. After the city fell, he was sentenced to exile for 20 years. He returned to Athens after the end of the Peloponnesian War. The surviving annalistic History of the Peloponnesian War is an unfinished work written over more than 30 years by Thucydides, covering events up to 411 BC. The book consists of 8 volumes. Thucydides skillfully uses speeches written by historical figures in the book to explain various issues related to the Peloponnesian War, composed by him with a keen sense of timing.